Arlington Eamonn’s and TNT Bar Are in Soft Opening. Should You Go?

A new location of fish and chips spot Eamonn’s, along with the much-anticipated TNT Bar, started quietly serving this week at 2413 Columbia Pike in Arlington. These are of course the latest offerings from EatGoodFood Group, the entity that’s also behind Restaurant Eve, The Majestic, Society Fair, Virtue Feed & Grain, and PX—the famous speakeasy run by barman Todd Thrasher. The legend of Thrasher has created quite a buzz around TNT, where concoctions include original elixirs and recipes from other bar masters around the country.

But while there may be food and drink moving from kitchen and bar to
tables at the new Penrose Square spots, they’re not officially open for business. So should you go tonight for dinner? “The word soft means be easy, gentle,” part-ownerMeshelle Armstrong wrote to us in an e-mail. “When we’re in soft opening
mode, and I can only speak for our group, we put the word
out to friends and family to come on in and give us
feedback—gently.”

At Eamonn’s and TNT, staff are letting neighborhood people in, but asking everyone to “please leave all mouth weapons at the door. If you want
to complain, come back later.”

A lot of restaurants run mock services before opening—offering free or
discounted meals to friends and family—but
Armstrong says EatGoodFood prefers to just work through those tough
early days. “Running Soft means we have the
opportunity to see it all play out but for real. You realize things: the
fryers take way more time to warm up, the [credit card] system is programmed
all wrong.” The trial-by-fire approach doesn’t end with the soft opening.
Armstrong says it is the restaurant group’s tradition to have their
official opening on a Friday. “If we can handle the worst, every day
only gets better.”

There are currently three Yelp reviews of the new Eamonn’s, all of them positive. Eamonn’s and TNT Bar open officially this Friday at 5.